The Amazon rainforest faces a significant threat of shifting to a savanna-like environment due to climate change and deforestation. A computer simulation by European scientists indicates that a reduction in precipitation by ten percent or more than 65 percent of deforestation could trigger this transformation. The Amazon, often called the "world's lungs", plays a crucial role in carbon absorption and oxygen production. Deforestation rates decreased recently, yet the area cleared is still vast, with political factors influencing its preservation.
"We are reasonably confident that such a shift is possible," coauthor and University of Cambridge professor Andrew Friend told Live Science. "The question is what degree of climate change and/or deforestation will cause the system to change."
The results were stark: Just a ten percent reduction in precipitation from the Atlantic Ocean, or a more than 65 percent destruction, can push the rainforest into an inexorable path towards "a drier savanna-like environment," according to the paper.
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